


They Look so Pretty When They Bleed

by paintedbluerose



Series: Whumptober [10]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cutting, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Iroh loves his nephew, Protective Iroh (Avatar), Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Zuko (Avatar) whump, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26956057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedbluerose/pseuds/paintedbluerose
Summary: Iroh notices blood around Zuko. Things start to click. He wished he didn’t see the blood.Day 10 of Whumptober theme:they look so pretty when they bleedPrompt:blood loss, internal bleeding, trail of blood
Relationships: Iroh & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Whumptober [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950010
Comments: 10
Kudos: 204





	They Look so Pretty When They Bleed

**Author's Note:**

> My notes for this originally were “Azula, stab, stab, stab”. That is not what happened here. I guess I wanted something else...? I sort of projected some of myself onto Zuko. A bit. All through Iroh’s eyes because he loves his nephew and cares for him deeply. 
> 
> And blood mentioned in here. And bleeding. And what not. If that bothers you.

The first time Iroh noticed it was almost a year into Zuko’s banishment. A couple of drops of blood heading to or from Zuko’s room. At first Iroh thought nothing of it. Zuko tended to Blue Spirit it up, which brought nothing but heart attacks to Iroh, but he always came back. It wasn’t a huge amount of blood either. A couple of small drops. Which meant it wasn’t a huge injury.

A few months went by and Iroh forgot about the blood. It wasn’t until Zuko joined him for tea with blood stains on his sleeve did Iroh remember.

“Nephew, what happened?” Iroh grabbed Zuko’s arm. Before Iroh could even get a good look, Zuko pulled his arm away. Like Iroh was burning him. 

“It’s nothing.” Zuko did not look at Iroh.

“Nephew.”

“It was an accident. With... with my swords”

Iroh did not believe that one bit. Zuko hadn’t had an accident in years. Since before Lu Ten passed. “I hope you remain careful. You know I love you. I don’t want anything bad to happen to you.” 

“I know.”

Again, it was forgotten. Almost a year since the first incident had passed. They were near the Earth Kingdom in an unusually hot day. Most of the crew elected to wear as little as possible. Iroh himself decided not to wear a top, much to his nephew’s annoyance.

Zuko wore long sleeves. Like he was freezing. “Nephew, it’s too hot! Take some layers off.”

“I’m fine!”

Iroh could see he was not fine. His skin was flushed from the heat. So he did what he thought was best: grab Zuko by his arm to pull off his shirt. “Nephew-“

“Get off!” Zuko screamed. “Leave me alone!”

Zuko stormed off and Iroh was speechless. It wasn’t because of the anger or what Zuko said. That happened often enough. It was the fact that Iroh had Zuko’s blood on him. When he grabbed his nephew, he put enough pressure on his arm to feel the blood through his shirt. How bad was he bleeding?

The more Iroh thought about it, the more he was worried. There was blood by Zuko’s door, there was blood visible through Zuko’s shirt, Zuko never wore anything but long sleeves, and Zuko bled enough to soak through his shirt. All signs pointed to something that Iroh did not want to admit, something that broke his heart. Zuko was hurting himself.

Iroh knocked on Zuko’s door, waiting for a response that most likely wouldn’t come. “Nephew. Prince Zuko. Please... please talk to me.” Iroh could hear shuffling around inside. Zuko still said nothing. “Nephew please. I love you. Please talk to me.” Still nothing. Iroh felt tears fall and all he could think about was how much Zuko was hurting. How much pain he was in. “Please.”

A mumbled “go away” was the only response.

Iroh did not want to leave. He knew his nephew needed him, whether he realized it or not. However, he also knew Zuko would not open up to Iroh. Not right now. 

“I don’t want to leave you. If you want me to go, I’ll respect your wishes. Just know I love you. I’ll be here when you are ready.” Iroh waited a few more minutes before leaving. No amount of calming jasmine could stop the tears that came that night.

Zuko did not want to talk. Iroh tried over and over, day after day and each day Zuko came with an excuse to avoid his Uncle. It broke Iroh’s heart to see his nephew in pain, to be avoided, to not be able to help his nephew.

The trail of blood only increased since Iroh tried to talk to Zuko. Or maybe since Iroh knew what it was, he noticed it more. Why was he hurting himself?

It took months for things to go back to normal. Iroh stopped trying to talk to Zuko in hopes the pressure would be off of Zuko. Maybe if he felt Iroh wasn’t harassing him, he would open up. Doubtful but Iroh would try anything at this point.

One day Iroh was excited about a new tea and rushed to tell his nephew. He didn’t knock on Zuko’s door like he normally would have. When he opened the door he was almost glad he hadn’t knocked. His poor nephew had his sleeve rolled up, knife in his hand, and blood streaming down his arm. The knife had blood on it. No matter what Zuko would say, it was clear it was no accident. Not with the hundreds of marks already on his arms.

“Prince Zuko, my nephew, why...”

“I thought we agreed to always knock!” Zuko jumped up from his seat.

“We did.” Iroh sighed. “I’m not going to apologize for that. Not when this is what you’ve been doing. Why are you hurting yourself like this?”

“Hurting myself?” He scoffed. “I’m not hurting myself.”

“You’re cutting yourself.”

“I’m not hurting myself.” He repeated. “I deserve this. I’m... I’m not good enough. I’m never good enough. I’ll never be good enough. This is marks of failure.”

There was too much for Iroh to process all at once. What made his nephew believe he deserved the pain he’s inflicting? No. Iroh knew the answer to that. Ozai. “No my nephew. You are more than enough. You are not a failure. You are amazing. You don’t deserve to be in pain. Ever.”

“But... father said I’m worthless. Father said-“

“No.” Iroh interrupted. He was going to kill his brother one day. “You are not worthless. I wish you could see you the way I see you. You are brave and kind. Selfless. Your father does not deserve you.”

“Uncle...” Zuko dropped his knife as the tears feel from his eyes. Iroh wrapped him in a hug and held on for a long time. 

Months went by and blood stopped showing up. Zuko opened up more. Iroh was there for his nephew no matter what he needed. 

When Zuko made his decision in Ba Sing Se, Iroh was worried the blood would appear again. He couldn’t be sure as Zuko covered his arms up all the time.

It was in the tent before the comet Iroh saw how much his nephew changed. Zuko wore short sleeves. Iroh placed a hand over Zuko’s arm, over the old scars. “Nephew. No knives?”

Zuko smiled. “No more knives Uncle.”

Iroh hugged his boy again. He didn’t have to worry about following a trail of blood anymore. His nephew wasn’t in pain.


End file.
